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![]() Enthusiast ![]() ![]() Joined Feb 25, '04 From Fairfield, CA Currently Offline Reputation: 0 (0%) ![]() |
So two weeks ago, I find what I think is my dream car posted on Craig's List in Denver. I email the guy, and no reply. One week later, it's still posted, so I email him again. No reply. Then finally (over two weeks after I first messaged him) he calls my house about the car yesterday. He goes to school out of state, but his inlaws have the car about 45 min from where I live, so I get their info, and set up a test drive for yesterday afternoon. Here's the ad:
"Get it while it's still for sale. One of 81 sold in America. 84K original miles. Leather interior, sun roof, power everything, 5-speed, turbo-charged, all-trac (all wheel drive all the time), premium sound and much more. This is a great little car, but I have to sell it to pay for my student loans. It is awesome in the mountains with the power to pull it up the hills and the controll to giggle around the turns. It does have a few cosmetic flaws, but nothing to worry too much about. It has been babied for the last 4 years while my wife and I had it." Naturally, I'm pretty excited. He's asking 9,500 for it, which is about 3 grand over book, so I'm thinking the car must be in near mint condition. My brother and I head over there, and this is what we find: As we approach the car, we notice that some of the badging is broken off or missing. Okay. Then I look inside. Leather seats are very worn (drivers is torn) and interior is looking pretty rough. Missing speaker covers, driver side door panel missing cushion (found it in the back seat), and generally not clean. He told me that some clear coat was missing on the hood (paint missing, not clear coat) and the front spoiler lip was slightly cracked. Body needed some door ding touch up (and really, a whole different color. It was stock turqoise). It fires right up, and the engine looks okay except the coolant reeks (hard to check stuff because it's all crammed together in the 5th gen). The hatchback cover was missing, and then my brother notices that a front lugnut is missing. The car is stock except for the cd player which was difficult to figure out. I look underneath the car, and I see what looks like rust on the undercarriage. Surprisingly cars don't rust in Colorado, so I don't know where it's been that it got that way. The driverside mirror had an encounter with a wall, and was glued back together very shoddily. I'm doing the mental calculations while I'm driving the car (drove reeeeal nice), and I'm coming to the conclusion that in order to fix it up, I'd need to put like 4 grand into it. That would mean I'm willing to pay 2 grand for it, but forget it. It's just not worth the time for me to take on that big of a project. Besides, the switches were all screwed up and cracked on the inside for the heat/ac controls, and who knows how hard it would be to find replacements for that stuff (every single window seal, too)... Needless to say, my car is a 94 with about 3 times as many miles as his, and it's still in perfect shape. I don't know what his definition of "babied" is, but it ain't mine. So, I'll stop ranting now, but if anyone is looking for a project, message me, and I'll send you his number since he never checks his email.... |
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Lo-Fi Version | Time is now: May 28th, 2025 - 9:17 AM |